Beckett Conspiracy
The Beckett Conspiracy is the main mystery of the Castle series: Who killed Kate Beckett's mother and why. Throughout the series there have been many murders to cover up this mystery and many secrets as to who it is that is ordering these murders. Background *In the "bad old days", organized crime owned the New York justice system. Officers in the NYPD sometimes resorted to vigilantism to keep organized crime under control. A trio of cops formed a gang that kidnapped mobsters for ransom. They were sufficiently successful that the five families called a temporary truce in response to the kidnappings. *These three officers were John Raglan, Gary McCallister, and a young rookie cop, Roy Montgomery. *While attempting to kidnap a mobster named Joe Pulgatti, Roy's gun went off accidentally. The mobster he killed was actually an undercover FBI Special Agent, Bob Armen. The three escaped, and Raglan and McCallister later framed Pulgatti for the murder. *Later, someone else figured out what had happened, and blackmailed away all the ransom money. This unknown person would later be described as "The Dragon". The blackmailed ransom money became the beginnings of the Dragon's criminal empire. The Dragon continued to inspire fear and dread in all three officers, but also guilt, because his power started with their crime. *Most of the subsequent crimes committed by the Dragon appear to be aimed at covering up this first crime. The Dragon seems to be desperate to cover up any remaining connections to this "original sin", and is willing to commit many more murders to accomplish this. The Johanna Beckett Murder *Pulgatti continued to proclaim his innocence. He realized that the only people who knew he was with Bob Armen when he died were the kidnappers themselves, and they must therefore be with the NYPD. Although he wrote dozens of letters, only one attorney agrees to look into his case. *Johanna Beckett later takes up Pulgatti's cause. She begins investigating the case herself. Working with her on the case were Diane Cavanaugh and Jennifer Stewart. *The Dragon hires hit man Dick Coonan to kill the three, plus documents clerk Scott Murray, who could testify about the evidence that he'd provided them. *Coonan kills the four. Raglan, the investigating detective, covers up the four murders at The Dragon's request. He passes the crimes off as random gang violence to close their cases and stop any further investigation. *Years later, a now high-ranking Montgomery secretly alters arrest records to conceal his association with Raglan and McCallister. He also takes new police officer Kate Beckett under his wing, out of a combination of guilt and a desire to make amends for his role in her mother's death. The Dragon makes a deal with Montgomery: keep Beckett from investigating her mother's death (or at least making progress on the investigation) and Beckett won't be killed. The Coverup *A routine investigation by Beckett and Castle turns up another victim, Jack Coonan, killed to cover up a drug ring. To their amazement, Lanie Parish and Dr. Clark Murray confirm that this victim died the same distinctive way as Johanna Beckett and the other three. *The killer is eventually identified as Dick Coonan. Coonan was using his charitable work building schools in Afghanistan to smuggle heroin, but revealed his role in the plot when he showed too much knowledge of Johanna Beckett's murder. *Coonan takes Castle hostage and attempts to talk his way out of the precinct, offering to share with Beckett the identity of the man who hired him. However, Beckett is forced to kill him to save Castle. *After finding out that he's dying of leukemia, John Raglan later contacts Beckett to talk to her about her mother's killing. He's killed by a sniper (Hal Lockwood) before he has a chance to say anything more than that it started nine years before her mother's murder. *Investigating Raglan's murder leads Beckett to Gary McCallister, his old friend and partner. McCallister pretends to cooperate, attempting to implicate drug dealer Vulcan Simmons. *Castle and Beckett eventually discover the connection to the Pulgatti case and confront McCallister with it. McCallister confesses to the broad outlines of what happened, but does not implicate Montgomery or identity the Dragon. McCallister is the first to use that name for the mastermind, describing the person as far too powerful for Beckett to handle. McCallister is jailed for accessory to murder. *Meanwhile, Ryan and Esposito eventually identify the sniper, Hal Lockwood. He and his team have been tracking Beckett, attempting to discover how much she has discovered. They ambush Ryan and Esposito, torturing them for information. The two are rescued by Castle and Beckett. Beckett kills most of Lockwood's team, and Castle tackles and beats up Lockwood himself. Lockwood refuses to talk and is jailed. Beckett visits the jail weekly to interrogate him. *Lockwood is mysteriously transferred out of administrative detention and into the general population. He immediately kills McCallister, who does not resist. *When Lockwood is arraigned for the murder, he uses the court appointment as an opportunity to stage a well-planned, well-financed escape. Lockwood appears to have been in regular contact with his employer via coded messages in very brief phone calls. *Beckett and Castle identify a prison administrator, Chuck Ryker, as the man who gave the unauthorized transfer order. He seems an unlikely conspirator, but did receive a mysterious payoff from a maze of banks in Dubai. When they go to question him, he is found murdered. *Lockwood visits Montgomery at his home. He points out that Montgomery had a longstanding agreement with the Dragon to keep Beckett off her mother's case. Having failed to do this, Beckett now must die. Roy is to lure Beckett to an airport hangar, where she can be killed by Lockwood and his team. Lockwood threatens the lives of Montgomery's wife and children if he refuses. *Montgomery agrees, and gets Beckett to come to the hangar. However, he has also arranged a double-cross with Castle. Montgomery ambushes Lockwood and his team, as Castle carries Beckett clear. Everyone else, including Montgomery, is killed. *Castle, Beckett, Ryan and Esposito agree to cover up Montgomery's role in the conspiracy. Mr. Smith *Just before leaving to make his final stand against Lockwood, Montgomery created a package of mysterious and highly sensitive papers, which he sent to "Mr. Smith" in Washington, DC. Smith owed Montgomery an unknown debt, and also is aware of the Dragon's identity. Smith uses these papers to buy a resumption of the old agreement: protection for Beckett as long as the investigation of her mother's murder continues to be fruitless. *However, during the time that the papers are in the mail, the Dragon hires yet another hit man to make an attempt on Beckett's life. She is shot by a sniper disguised as a groundskeeper at the funeral of Captain Montgomery. She survives, but is incapacitated for several months. *Smith contacts Castle, and explains the terms of the deal. Castle begins subtly distracting Beckett from the murder investigation, while secretly beginning one of his own. The only person who has discovered his secret work on the case is rogue CIA agent Sophia Turner, who later dies. Mayor Weldon *Mayor Robert Weldon is widely speculated to be running for Governor of New York. This apparently does not suit the Dragon's purposes. The Dragon arranges for the Mayor to come under investigation for financial misconduct. The real culprit was one of the Mayor's political advisors. *When the plot threatened to come to light, the Dragon had a woman who was unravelling the plot, Laura Cambridge, killed. Castle and Beckett uncovered the advisor's treachery, but before he could crack and spill the name of the Dragon in the interrogation room, his mysterious and expensive new attorney arrived and ordered his client not to speak. *While the financial misconduct investigation was thwarted, the Dragon's purposes were served equally well by the headline-grabbing subpoena Beckett served on the Mayor, whose name became entangled in the murder investigation. The Mayor abandoned plans to seek higher political office and will serve the rest of his term as Mayor before retiring. *Although he has asked Castle to keep Beckett from investigating the Dragon, Mr. Smith provided crucial assistance to Castle in the investigation. He explains that, had Mayor Weldon been humiliated completely, he would have stepped down as Mayor. Castle would have been thrown out of the precint, and Beckett would have resumed investigating her mother's murder. The Dragon was willing to accept Weldon as Mayor to keep this from happening. The Players *John Raglan *Gary McCallister *Roy Montgomery *Dick Coonan *Hal Lockwood *Jolene Granger *Chuck Ryker *The Cemetery Sniper *Laura's Killer *Mr. Smith Category:Content